The Call to Serve

Posted on November 2, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” – St. Therese of Lisieux

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Listen to my song “Pour Me Out” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Romans 6:8

If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

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Everything gives itself over in death so that there might be new life for another.

You see it in nature.

Animals give themselves over as food for others.

Leaves wither and fall from trees, dying to nurture the ground below.

Jesus spoke of this when he said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).

As humans, we have a choice whether to willingly enter this dynamic, life-giving cycle each day.

Or we can choose to spend our time seeking to gain power, prestige and possessions.

That path leads to a dead end.

Jesus modeled the self-emptying path that leads to abundant life, a path that exemplified, “Not my will but God’s be done” (Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42).

For when we die with Christ, letting go of our egos’ desires in deference to serving another, we rise with Christ.

When we do this, we get life to the full both now and forever.

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Listen to the song of the day “Pour Me Out” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Peacefully Oppose

Posted on October 29, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Saurabh G from Pixabay

“When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises.” – St. Oscar Romero

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Listen to my song “Mercy Reigns” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.

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St. Paul was in prison when he wrote this.

He was urging Christians to draw strength from God as they resisted evil.

The evil he speaks of is not each individual’s personal sins, but corporate sins– “principalities”, “powers” and the “world rulers of this present darkness.”

Paul makes it clear that the way to resist this evil is not with violence but by being clothed with righteousness as a breastplate (Ephesians 6:14), a helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) which he says is “the word of God.”

Paul has learned well from Jesus even though he never met him in person.

The evangelist was exhorting all Christians to be Christ’s hands and feet, to stand up to the powers that persecute the “least of these”, but to do so with non-violence.

He calls it “the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15).

Today, there are plenty of structural powers wreaking havoc on those in need, plenty of “world rulers of this present darkness” inflicting trauma on those seeking fairness, equality, and a helping hand.

How will you respond?

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Listen to the song of the day “Mercy Reigns” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Listen

Posted on October 28, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Sven Lachmann from Pixabay

“May God give you an experience of this “something” that is born of silence. If only you practice this, untold light will dawn on you.” – Thomas Merton

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Listen to my song “Turn Off the Noise” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Luke 6:12-13

In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles.

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Before a big decision, do you pray about it?

Before Jesus was going to pick the twelve apostles from his many followers, he spent all night in prayer with God.

Jesus was giving us all a major lesson in how to live our lives.

We need to be in communion with God.

That means spending time with God in silence, fully present to the moment.

That means letting go of my plans and my wishes, allowing my mind to become quiet and open.

Some form of contemplative prayer is essential, such as meditation or Centering Prayer.

This allows you to practice letting go.

It’s mirroring what Jesus did before he was arrested and crucified when he prayed to God, “Not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

‘Let go and let God’ as we often glibly say.

Saying it is one thing, but doing is quite another!

That’s why the prayer practice is so important.

It’s not so much a doing as simply being.

It’s communing with God in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Spend some time with the great “I Am” (Exodus 3:14).

I guarantee that your life will change for the better.

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Listen to the song of the day “Turn Off the Noise” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Divine Alchemy

Posted on October 27, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Devanath from Pixabay

“Jesus was not talking about how to be good and how to behave within the framework of a domination system. He was a critic of the domination system itself.” – Marcus Borg, The God We Never Knew

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Listen to my song “Singing My Song” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Luke 13:20-21

Jesus said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

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Jesus was always talking about the kingdom of God.

But this reference was generally not about some future reward.

He was talking about the present.

Jesus seemed to be quite focused on the idea that the kingdom of God was right here under our noses but usually missed.

“The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:20-21).

This kingdom might be better translated as “kin-dom”.

I’ve seen other contemporary spiritual writers translate it as the “companionship of empowerment.”

It’s when a Larger Life conspires to create nurturing connections.

It’s when the Spirit, if you will, secretly empowers a community to come together for a good purpose.

Creativity blossoms out of nowhere – to now-here.

When we go with the flow of this Spirit, putting our creativity in the service of Goodness and those in need, this kingdom of God, or kin-dom, breaks into the present moment.

May it be so!

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Listen to the song of the day “Singing My Song” on the Live to Love album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Be Light

Posted on October 26, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Myriam Zilles from Pixabay

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Listen to my song “Salvation” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Ephesians 4:32

Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

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This message from St. Paul is especially tough in this era of extremely nasty politics.

But if you identify as a Christian, then this is your call.

You are also called to stand up for the stranger, the poor, and the oppressed but always without stooping to mean-spiritedness or violence.

So by all means stand up to oppression and wrongdoing!

But be a light of hope in the process.

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Listen to the song of the day “Salvation” on the Live to Love album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Be the Change

Posted on October 23, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi

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Listen to my song “All Are One” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Ephesians 4:1-3

I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.

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St. Paul said this while in prison.

He was in chains and eventually executed for preaching about the oneness and equality of all in God’s eyes and how God loves everyone unconditionally.

We have this same call but it plays out differently in each of our lives depending on the gifts and talents we have received as well as the inner passions God has given us to live the call.

Paul also knew that living your calling involved being in the flow of the Spirit who always yearns to bring people together in peace.

What if before speaking, posting on social media, or taking any action, we submitted ourselves to the test of humility, gentleness and patience?

Are we “bearing with one another through love”?

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Listen to the song of the day “All Are One” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Agape

Posted on October 22, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Reinhardi from Pixabay

“To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love.” – Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

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Listen to my song “Pour Me Out” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Ephesians 3:17-19

That you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

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St. Paul was convinced through and through about the infinite love of God.

In today’s passage, he calls it the “love of Christ” that he says “surpasses knowledge.”

It’s not just a head thing but a heart thing.

It’s not just a concept but an action.

And when you do comprehend it, you are actually “filled with the fullness of God.”

Elsewhere Paul stated that in God “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

We are in God and God is in us.

It’s as though Paul is trying to explain the unexplainable.

Paul was so convinced of this Infinite Love, that he spent the rest of his life preaching about it until his execution.

Paul knew that this Love is stronger than death.

Jesus showed him this quite clearly.

Sit for a while in silence and contemplate this scripture passage and my reflection.

Then rest in the glory of it all.

How will you respond with your life?

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Listen to the song of the day “Pour Me Out” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Eternal Bond

Posted on October 21, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Suresh Babu Guddanti from Pixabay

“God loved us before he made us; and his love has never diminished and never shall.” – Julian of Norwich

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Listen to my song “How Wonderful to Me” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Ephesians 3:2-3

If, as I suppose, you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly earlier.

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St. Paul knew that it was God’s grace that deserved all the praise, not him.

He knew how he had mercilessly persecuted the first Christians.

But in return, he wasn’t punished.

Instead, God’s unconditional love was made known to him in a very personal way.

It redirected Paul to follow Christ.

“The mystery was made known to me by revelation.”

Have you ever had a revelation?

I think we would experience them more often if we would be focusing our attention on the present moment.

When we pour ourselves out in love for the other, we receive a hundred-fold in return.

We have to first die to ourselves…as in to our egos.

For me, it took a ruptured appendix and total loss of my ability to care for myself.

As I lay in a hospital bed hooked up to IV’s and an NG tube through my nose to my stomach, a most wondrous revelation occurred in the middle of the night.

At my lowest place where I could do nothing for myself, I had an experience of Love like I had never experienced it before.

I knew I was loved infinitely – and so was everyone and everything else.

God’s grace covers all that is.

May you know this in the depths of your being!

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Listen to the song of the day “How Wonderful to Me” on the Live to Love album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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You Belong

Posted on October 20, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by David Bruyland from Pixabay

“My eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.” – from Sermons of Meister Eckhart

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Listen to my song “All Are Welcome” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Ephesians 2:17-19

(Christ Jesus) came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God.

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Jesus showed us the face of God.

He said if you knew him, then you would know who God is as well (John 14:7).

Jesus poured himself out, or as St. Paul put it, he “emptied himself” (Philippians 2:7), to be the love of God to all.

And Jesus also, perhaps for the first time in history, demonstrated a third way in dealing with injustice.

Besides passively allowing it or violently opposing it, he stood up to injustice but with nonviolence.

He did not back down but spoke truth to power.

Jesus was perhaps the first nonviolent peace activist – at least the first we know about.

In following Jesus and taking part in his peace activism, we also take part in the work of God.

All people and all of creation are included in God’s desire for peace and unity.

No one is a stranger in God’s kingdom but all are “members of the household of God.”

This is good news!

Each of us is called to be missionaries of this news in the way we live our lives.

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Listen to the song of the day “All Are Welcome” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

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Vocation

Posted on October 19, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Николай Оберемченко from Pixabay

“Every child has known God…the God who only knows four words and keeps repeating them, saying: “Come dance with Me.”” – Hafiz

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Listen to my song “Shall We Sing” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Ephesians 2:10

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.

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St. Paul knew that this human life had a higher purpose.

He knew it was not about gaining material possessions, power and prestige.

Do we?

Paul knew that this human life was not about enforcing rules and laws with no regard to compassion and fair treatment to the poor.

Do we?

Paul went from being a harsh and violent persecutor of Christians (which he thought was doing God’s work!) to being the most zealous proclaimer of Christianity – as in following Christ in how he lived his life.

Do we?

Paul was transformed, not by punishment or chastisement, but by Grace.

He discovered in a very personal way that God truly is Unconditional Love.

And his response was to be a vessel of that Love in his life.

It’s a Love that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.

It lifts the lowly and confronts the powerful – but always with nonviolence.

How are you living the good works that God has prepared in advance for you?

Be a vessel of God’s love and you will be living your vocation.

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Listen to the song of the day “Shall We Sing” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment